Who were our ancestors before they became Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians?
Vyatichi
The name Vyatichi, in all likelihood, comes from the Proto-Slavic vęt- “big”, as do the names “Vendals” and “Vandals”. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Vyatichi descended “from the clan of the Poles,” that is, from the Western Slavs. The settlement of the Vyatichi came from the territory of the Dnieper left bank and even from the upper reaches of the Dniester. In the Oka River basin they founded their own state - Vantit, which is mentioned in the works of the Arab historian Gardizi.
The Vyatichi were an extremely freedom-loving people: the Kyiv princes had to capture them at least four times.
The last time the Vyatichi as a separate tribe was mentioned in chronicles was in 1197, but the legacy of the Vyatichi can be traced back to the 17th century. Many historians consider the Vyatichi to be the ancestors of modern Muscovites.
It is known that the Vyatichi tribes adhered to the pagan faith for a very long time. The chronicler Nestor mentions that polygamy was the order of the day among this tribal union. In the 12th century, the Vyatichi tribes killed the Christian missionary Kuksha Pechersky, and only by the 15th century did the Vyatichi tribes finally accept Orthodoxy.
Krivichi
The Krivichi were first mentioned in the chronicle in 856, although archaeological finds indicate the emergence of the Krivichi as a separate tribe back in the 6th century. The Krivichi were one of the largest East Slavic tribes and lived on the territory of modern Belarus, as well as in the regions of the Podvina and Dnieper regions. The main cities of the Krivichi were Smolensk, Polotsk and Izborsk.
The name of the tribal union comes from the name of the pagan high priest Krive-Krivaitis. Krwe meant “curved,” which could equally indicate the priest’s advanced years as well as his ritual staff.
According to legends, when the high priest could no longer perform his duties, he committed self-immolation. The main task of the krive-krivaitis was sacrifices. Usually goats were sacrificed, but sometimes the animal could be replaced by a human.
The last tribal prince of the Krivichi, Rogvolod, was killed in 980 by the Novgorod prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, who took his daughter as his wife. Krivichi are mentioned in chronicles until 1162. Subsequently, they mixed with other tribes and became the ancestors of modern Lithuanians, Russians and Belarusians.
Glade
The Glades have nothing to do with Poland. It is believed that these tribes came from the Danube and settled in the territory of modern Ukraine. It is the Polyans who are the founders of Kyiv and the main ancestors of modern Ukrainians.
According to legend, in the Polyan tribe there lived three brothers Kiy, Shchek and Khoriv with their sister Lybid. The brothers built a city on the banks of the Dnieper and named it Kiev, in honor of their elder brother. These brothers laid the foundation for the first princely family. When the Khazars imposed tribute on the Polans, they paid them the first with double-edged swords.
Initially, the clearings were in a losing position; they were squeezed on all sides by more numerous and strong neighbors, and the Khazars forced the glades to pay them tribute. But by the middle of the 8th century, thanks to economic and cultural growth, the glades switched from waiting to offensive tactics.
Having captured many of the lands of their neighbors, in 882 the glades themselves came under attack. Novgorod Prince Oleg seized their lands, and declared Kyiv the capital of his new state.
The last time the glades were mentioned in the chronicle was in 944 in connection with Prince Igor’s campaign against Byzantium.
White Croats
Little is known about the White Croats. They came from the upper reaches of the Vistula River and settled on the Danube and along the Morava River. It is believed that their homeland was Great (White) Croatia, which was located on the spurs Carpathian Mountains. But in the 7th century, under pressure from the Germans and Poles, the Croats began to leave their state and go east.
According to the Tale of Bygone Years, white Croats took part in Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople in 907. But the chronicles also indicate that Prince Vladimir “went against the Croats” in 992. So the free tribe became part of Kievan Rus.
It is believed that the White Croats are the ancestors of the Carpathian Rusyns.
Drevlyans
The Drevlyans have a bad reputation. The Kyiv princes twice imposed tribute on the Drevlyans for raising an uprising. The Drevlyans did not abuse mercy. Prince Igor, who decided to collect a second tribute from the tribe, was tied up and torn in two.
The prince of the Drevlyans, Mal, immediately wooed Princess Olga, who had barely become a widow. She brutally dealt with his two embassies, and during the funeral feast for her husband she carried out a massacre among the Drevlyans.
The princess finally subjugated the tribe in 946, when she burned their capital Iskorosten with the help of birds that lived in the city. These events went down in history as “Olga’s four revenges on the Drevlyans.” It is interesting that the Drevlyans, along with the Polyans, are the distant ancestors of modern Ukrainians.
Dregovichi
The name Dregovichi comes from the Baltic root “dreguva” - swamp. Dregovichi is one of the most mysterious unions of Slavic tribes. Almost nothing is known about them. At a time when the Kyiv princes were burning neighboring tribes, the Dregovichi “entered” Rus' without resistance.
It is unknown where the Dregovichi came from, but there is a version that their homeland was in the south, on the Peloponnese Peninsula. The Dregovichi settled in the 9th-12th centuries on the territory of modern Belarus; they are believed to be the ancestors of the Ukrainians and Poleschuks.
Before joining Rus', they had their own reign. The capital of the Dregovichi was the city of Turov. Not far from there was the city of Hil, which was an important ritual center where sacrifices were made to the pagan gods.
Radimichi
The Radimichi were not Slavs, their tribes came from the west, displaced in the 3rd century by the Goths, and settled in the area between the upper Dnieper and Desna along the Sozh and its tributaries. Until the 10th century, the Radimichi remained independent, were ruled by tribal leaders and had their own army. Unlike most of their neighbors, the Radimichi never lived in dugouts - they built huts with smoking stoves.
In 885 Kyiv prince Oleg asserted his power over them and obliged the Radimichi to pay him tribute, which they had previously paid to the Khazars. In 907, the Radimichi army took part in Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople. Soon after this, the union of tribes freed itself from the power of the Kyiv princes, but already in 984 a new campaign against the Radimichi took place. Their army was defeated, and the lands were finally annexed to Kievan Rus. The last time the Radimichi were mentioned in the chronicle was in 1164, but their blood still flows among modern Belarusians
Slovenia
Slovenes (or Ilmen Slovenes) are the northernmost East Slavic tribe. Slovenes lived in the basin of Lake Ilmen and upstream Mologi. The first mention of the Slovenes can be dated back to the 8th century.
Slovenia can be called an example of vigorous economic and government development.
In the 8th century, they captured settlements in Ladoga, then established trade relations with Prussia, Pomerania, the islands of Rügen and Gotland, as well as with Arab merchants. After a series of civil strife, Slovenes in the 9th century called for the Varangians to reign. Veliky Novgorod becomes the capital. After this, the Slovenians began to be called Novgorodians; their descendants still live in the Novgorod region.
Northerners
Despite the name, the northerners lived much further south than the Slovenians. The habitat of the northerners was the basins of the Desna, Seima, Seversky Donets and Sula. The origin of the self-name is still unknown; some historians suggest Scythian-Sarmatian roots for the word, which can be translated as “black”.
The Northerners were different from other Slavs; they had thin bones and a narrow skull. Many anthropologists believe that the northerners belong to a branch of the Mediterranean race - the Pontic.
The tribal association of northerners existed until the visit of Prince Oleg. Previously, the northerners paid tribute to the Khazars, but now they began to pay Kyiv. In just one century, the northerners mixed with other tribes and ceased to exist.
Ulichi
The streets were out of luck. Initially they lived in the area of the lower Dnieper, but nomads forced them out, and the tribes had to move westward to the Dniester. Gradually, the Ulichi founded their own state, the capital of which was the city of Peresechen, located on the territory of modern Dnepropetrovsk.
With Oleg coming to power, the Ulichi began to fight for independence. Sveneld, the governor of the Kyiv prince, had to conquer the lands of the Ulichs piece by piece - the tribes fought for every village and settlement. Sveneld besieged the capital for three years until the city finally surrendered.
Even subject to tribute, the Ulichi tried to restore their own lands after the war, but soon a new trouble came - the Pechenegs. The Ulichi were forced to flee to the north, where they mixed with the Volynians. In the 970s, the streets were mentioned in chronicles for the last time.
The territory of the Kaluga region has been inhabited since the Neolithic era from the 3rd millennium BC. e. various tribes and nationalities. IN end of III millennium BC e. – I millennium BC e. our area was inhabited by the Fatyanovo tribe, who were familiar with bronze tools. The Fatyanovo people were predominantly cattle breeders who came to our area from the southeastern steppes in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e.
At the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. people knew iron. The development of iron made it possible for people to cut down forests and bushes, freeing up ever larger areas for meadows and pastures, and also to build dwellings from logs instead of primitive huts. In that era, people lived in small tribal communities, and for settlement they chose the most favorable places where it would be easier to protect themselves from wild animals and neighboring rivals. The fortification on the side of the open field, as a rule, was protected by deep ditches and earthworks, and a palisade of large logs was built on top. People's homes were small wooden houses with cone-shaped thatched roofs and a fireplace inside. At the same time, many settlements existed continuously for hundreds and even more than a thousand years, as evidenced by the cultural layer accumulated on the site.
In the Kaluga region, numerous hills with the remains of earthen ramparts and ditches, covered with coal-black soil - a cultural layer, have been preserved. Archaeologists call the remains of these ancient settlements with fortifications fortifications. The first treasures of the “Early Iron Age” were discovered in a settlement near the village of Dyakovo on the southern outskirts of Moscow. This ancient monument, which has the shape of a pyramidal hill with the remains of a rampart and an ancient ditch, received the popular name “Devil's Settlement”. While picking up stones in the scree of the hill, local residents often came across “devil’s fingers” here - fossilized belemnite mollusks, and often came across “thunder arrows” - stone tips of ancient arrows. In the 60s of the last century, Russian archaeologist D. Ya. Samokvasov, during excavations, found a treasure trove of interesting metal jewelry made of bronze from the 5th–6th centuries. n. e.: a massive neck hryvnia with a wire wrap and false hollow beads, a twisted hryvnia, a buckle in the form of a horseshoe, bracelets, bells.
About a dozen ancient settlements were located on Kaluga land- within the boundaries of Kaluga itself, three settlements are known. And nearby towered the burial grounds and mounds of ancient Slavic settlements that passed nearby. Archaeological studies of Kaluga settlements have shed light on the life and way of life of the ancient inhabitants of our area and made it possible to study their customs and culture. The settlements were inhabited by a patriarchal family, but over time their population increased, and entire settlements appeared in the vicinity of the settlements. Their traces are a settlement near the village. Kaluzhki, village Gorodni, village Sekiotovo, Klimov plant. The architecture of ancient settlements is unusual.
The hills adjacent to the settlement were carefully fortified, and the fortification defense system continuously developed over the centuries. Large ramparts were erected on the vulnerable sides of the field, in front of which deep ditches filled with water were dug. A wooden palisade was laid along the crest of the ramparts, encircling the terraced areas on the steep slopes of the fortifications, built to enter and exit the territory, while the entrance, paved with wooden logs or cobblestones, led to the flat top of the fortress. On the territory of the settlement there were public buildings, residential buildings, agricultural buildings, storage facilities, and cellars. In each dwelling, one part probably belonged to men, and the other to women and children.
In the center of the house there was a fireplace lined with homemade bricks made of baked clay. The individual families living in the houses constituted one community, a single large patriarchal family, inseparably leading a common household. What treasures were hidden behind its ramparts? First of all, this is cattle, since cattle breeding was the main occupation of the inhabitants of the settlements, the basis of their primitive economy. The development of cattle breeding and the development of metal largely contributed to the development of agriculture in the Kaluga region, as evidenced by iron products found at the settlements. Among the archaeological finds are iron products: sickles, scythes, knives, arrowheads. Important role Hunting and fishing also played a part in the household. Among the animal bones found at the site were the bones of wild and domestic animals: bear, wild boar, elk, fox - the fauna of the territory of future Kaluga was so diverse.
Ancient metallurgy was firmly integrated into the life of the inhabitants of Kaluga settlements: archaeologists have discovered clay molds for melting metal - lyachkas, forgings, metal slags - industrial waste, cast bronze and iron products. Women's jewelry was skillfully made by an ancient master: temple rings, bronze pendants, metal rings, brooches, miniature bells. They decorated women's festive costumes. Entire tassels of such bronze pendants hung from women's headdresses. Beads and a hryvnia were worn around the neck. All kinds of plaques were sewn on the chest and on the belt, even on the hem of the dress. A characteristic male decoration was the belt plaque. In Kaluga land at that time weaving and pottery were already developed. Ancient coarse molded pottery was found at the sites. Excavations of the settlement of the supposed ancient Kaluga at the mouth of the Kaluga River and the neighboring settlement near the village of Gorodnya, where ancient Gorodensk stood, carried out in 1892 by the Kaluga archaeologist I. D. Chetyrkin, confirmed that the inhabitants of the settlements made not only pottery, but were also skilled bone carvers – the bone handles of knives and amulets found here are distinguished by their excellent finishing. Bone carvings were also found in the Mozhaika tract near the ravine near the village. Sekiotovo.
Who were the inhabitants of the Kaluga settlements? Archaeological research has shed light on the ethnographic affiliation of the inhabitants of the Kaluga settlements in the earliest period of their history; they contain elements of ancient Baltic and Finno-Ugric cultures. Later layers (X-XII centuries) belong to the chronicle Slavic tribes - the Vyatichi. According to linguists, the name “Vyatichi” comes from the ancient name of the Slavs, known to the Romans, “Venta”, from which came “Ventici” (Vyatichi). The characteristic clay pottery made on a potter's wheel and the Vyatichi seven-blade temple rings date back to this period. Among the Slavic finds of the Kaluga region are dozens of various objects and products made of iron: openers, plowshares, sickles and scythes, knives and axes. This could be observed during the excavations of ancient Russian Serensk. Among the many metal objects found in the Serensky Detinets, household items came first. Tools of labor and agriculture took second place (5.7%), while tools of artisans used for processing metal, wood, leather, etc., took third place (4.1%). In addition, in the excavated ancient Serensk, among dozens of found objects of everyday life and economic activity, written culture and cult, a hollow cross-encolpion for storing relics was found. He is a witness to the ancient Christian culture of the pre-Mongol period, which came to our region from ancient Kyiv. Archaeological finds testify to these cultural connections between the city of artisans Serensk and Kiev, Chernigov and other cities of Ancient Rus'.
The history of the Vyatichi has preserved the names of the Slavic tribes known from the ancient Russian “Tale of Bygone Years”. This is the first Russian chronicle of the 12th century. also names the legendary ancestor Vyatko: “...And Vyatko is gray with his family along the Oka, from him the name Vyatichi.” Archaeological materials confirm that the Vyatichi Slavic tribe occupied the basins of the Oka and Moskva Rivers, including the immediate territory of the future Moscow. Their communities, united in a large tribal union headed by elders (princes) from the tribal nobility, did not quarrel with each other, so the settlements were usually surrounded only by a wooden fence for protection from wild animals. The remains of such settlements, which do not have traces of earthen fortifications, are more difficult to detect on the ground. More often they are discovered by chance, thanks to the intensely black cultural layer preserved in their place and the finds in it of pottery made on a pottery wheel, elegant in shape and decorated with wavy or jagged ornaments. Thus, Slavic settlements were discovered on the Kaluzhka River (XII centuries), near the village of Zhdamirovo (XII-XV centuries), in Kaluga Bor (XI-XIII centuries), and a settlement near the Simeon settlement (XIV-XVI centuries). On the banks of the Ugra River there were also the remains of settlements, life on which continued for several centuries, until the beginning of the 17th century.
Arab geographer of the early 10th century. Ibn Rusta reported that “the land of the Vyatichi is a wooded plain, they live in the forests... The bread most cultivated by them is millet.” The collection of wild fruits and berries, mushrooms and honey from wild bees has long played a significant role in the Vyatichi economy. Written sources and archaeological sites indicate that at the end of the 1st millennium AD. e. The Vyatichi still retained the patriarchal clan system. They lived in fortified settlements - fortifications and were engaged in shifting agriculture. But then, later with the development of arable farming, the Vyatichi settled widely in unfortified villages. Archeology allows us to clarify not only the territories where the Vyatichi settled, but also their main occupations. The main economic occupation of our ancestors was agriculture, so they more often settled near rivers, among their field lands. During archaeological excavations, seeds of cereals - rye, wheat, barley, millet - were discovered in many places. Since ancient times, man has identified life with arable land and bread, and therefore called grain crops “life.” This name is still preserved in the Belarusian and Ukrainian languages.
Archaeological finds indicate that the southern lands of the Eastern Slavs were ahead of the northern ones in their development. This is due not so much to the proximity of the south of Ancient Rus' to the then centers of the Black Sea civilization, but also to more fertile lands. At the same time, natural and climatic conditions had a significant influence on the main agricultural systems of the Eastern Slavs. If in the north, in areas of taiga forests, the so-called slash-and-burn system of agriculture prevailed (in the first year the forest was cut down, in the second year the dried trees were burned and grain was sown, using ash instead of fertilizer), then in the southern regions fallow season prevailed (with an excess of fertile lands were sown in the same areas for two or three years or more, and then they moved - “shifted” to new ones). The main tools of labor of the Eastern Slavs were an axe, a hoe, a harrow and a spade, which were used to loosen the soil. The harvest was harvested with a sickle, threshed with flails, and the grain was ground with stone grain grinders and hand millstones. Cattle breeding was closely related to agriculture. The Eastern Slavs raised pigs, cows, and small cattle. Oxen were used as draft animals in the southern regions, and horses in the forest belt. To get a more complete picture of the life of the Slavs in ancient times, fishing, hunting and beekeeping (collecting honey from wild bees) should be added to the main economic activities.
Among the exhibits of the Kaluga Regional Museum of Local Lore, jewelry made of bronze, copper, billon (an alloy of copper and silver), silver, which served as jewelry for our distant ancestors who lived in the upper reaches of the Oka, is widely represented. They were found during excavations by the archaeological Verkhneokskaya expedition, which dated these finds to the 12th–13th centuries. The results of the excavations amazed specialists with the large number of Slavic and Old Russian ceramics and metal jewelry found here. Particularly valuable are the individual finds collected during the excavations: temple rings, bracelets, crosses, necklaces, pendants, rings, amulets, moons and beads, which gives grounds to date these finds to the 12th–13th centuries. Excavations of mounds provided a lot of interesting materials to characterize not only the funeral rites of the Vyatichi Slavs, but also their way of life, way of life and culture. In addition to rings, bracelets, carnelian and glass beads, almost every female burial contained characteristic temple rings with elegant seven-lobed plates. Based on these materials and comparing them with finds from other places, the outstanding archaeologist-specialist V.I. Sizov, back in the century before last, determined the purpose of the temple rings, which, in all likelihood, served to tie hair with a ribbon. Subsequently, the seven-lobed temporal rings became the most important characteristic feature Vyatic burials, in contrast to other Slavic tribes that lived north to Moscow and beyond the Klyazma River. Thanks to this, it was possible to quite accurately determine the border of settlement of the Vyatichi Slavs who inhabited the territory of modern Kaluga and Moscow. And when archaeologist A. A. Spitsyn late XIX century noted the finds of rings on the map, the truth of the messages in the Tale of Bygone Years was confirmed. In the mounds on the Sozha River, women were buried in a headdress with seven-bladed rings, and in the basin of the upper Oka and on the Moscow River there were seven-bladed rings of the Vyatichi. Other ancient Slavic necklaces found in the Vyatichi burial mounds consist of scarlet faceted carnelian and round crystal beads. The age of the necklaces is probably as ancient as the age of Kaluga itself, and the woman wearing the beads could be a contemporary of the legendary hero Ilya Muromets. Breast pendants were also found that characterize the cosmogonic ideas of the Vyatichi: some of them are “lunar”, in the shape of a crescent - symbolizing the moon, others - round in the form of a disk with rays - the sun. The elegance of form and subtlety of processing of pendants from Kaluga burial mounds attracted the attention of artists; According to experts, modern fashionistas will not refuse such jewelry.
Significantly longer than other Slavs, even centuries after the adoption of Christianity, it remained among the Vyatichi pagan custom burials in mounds. High earthen embankments, usually located in prominent places, have long attracted the attention of residents. Their true origin has long been forgotten and people's rumors connected the mounds with events of a later time: they were called “Lithuanian graves” in memory of the intervention of the early 17th century, and “French graves”, “graves that hid the victims of the epidemic” and simply “tufts” ( bulging earth). Legends were passed down from generation to generation about countless treasures allegedly hidden in the mounds by the conquerors. Vyatichi believed in afterlife, were convinced that in the next world they would need the things and tools that they used during life. During excavations of the Kaluga mounds, breast pendants are found that characterize the cosmogonic ideas of the Vyatichi and their pagan cult: some of them are “lunar”, in the shape of a crescent, symbolizing the moon, others are round, in the form of a disk with rays - the sun. The men's burial mounds contained many tools. These finds tell the story of the activity agriculture, indicate a significant development of the craft. In addition to other items, many bones of wild and domestic animals were discovered in the Kaluga mounds - bear, fox, hare, wild boar and horse. Moreover, almost all the bones underwent heat treatment. Apparently, eating horses was common among the Vyatichi of the 12th century. Perhaps this is precisely the fact that the Kiev chronicler had in mind when he said that the Vyatichi “eat everything unclean,” since horse meat was not eaten in Ancient Rus'.
Old Russian chronicles of the 11th century. they paint the Vyatichi as a separate tribe, separated from other East Slavic tribes by dense forests (and the forests were so dense that in 1175, during a princely feud, two armies marching against each other - one from Moscow, the other from Vladimir, got lost in the thickets and "minusstasya" in the forests”, i.e. they passed each other). Prince Vladimir Monomakh, famous for his military valor, talks in his “Instructions for Children” about a successful campaign through the land of the Vyatichi at the end of the 11th century. as a special feat. Equally important is another place in the same “Instruction”, where Monomakh reports two winter campaigns “in Vyatichi” against the elder Khodota and his son in Kordna. To the princes from the Rurik family of Vyatichi in the 11th century. did not submit, and Monomakh does not report either their conquest or the imposition of tribute. But where could the chronicle city of Kordna, which means road in ancient Finnish, stand? Academician B. A. Rybakov, on the map he compiled of the ancient cities of the Vyatichi, indicated the expected location of the present village of Karnady, northeast of Novosil, Oryol region. According to the assumption of the famous explorer of our region V.M. Kashkarov (1868-1915), this city of the Vyatichi was located near the village of Korn at the mouth of the Korinka stream, which flows into the Ressa. The village of Vyatchino, adjacent to Mosalsk, testifies to what this was the land of the Vyatichi people. The waterway from Kyiv and Chernigov to the Rostov-Murom region passed past this village and through the famous Bryn forests. When the legendary Ilya Muromets asked about the direct road to the city of Kyiv, the tsar told him: “We have a direct road to the city of Kyiv to the forests at Brynskie.” In the late 1980s - early 1990s, reclamation work was carried out in the area of the village of Korna, Mosalsky district. And suddenly the workers stumbled upon something incomprehensible, having dug up the remains of a wooden structure from a charred log in the ground. But the construction plan did not allow them to go deeper and, having laid a trench and laid pipes in it, they completed the project. Perhaps this was part of the fortress wall made of charred bog oak of the city of Kordno.
By the time the state was formed among the Eastern Slavs, the tribal community was replaced by a territorial (neighboring) community. Each community owned a certain territory in which several families lived. All possessions of such a community were divided into public and personal. Personal property consisted of a house, personal land, meadow, livestock, and household equipment. Land, meadows, meadows, ponds, forests and fishing grounds were in common use. Mows and arable land were divided between families. When the princes began to transfer the rights to own land to the feudal lords, some of the communities fell under their authority. Those same communities that did not fall under the rule of the feudal lord were obliged to pay state taxes. Peasant and feudal farms were of a subsistence nature. Each of them sought to provide for itself from internal resources, without working for the market. But with the advent of surpluses, it became possible to exchange agricultural products for handicraft goods. Thus, cities gradually began to take shape - centers of craft, trade and, at the same time, strongholds of feudal power and defensive fortresses from the encroachments of external enemies. The sites for the construction of cities were chosen with special care. Old Russian cities, as a rule, arose at the confluence of two rivers, on the hills. The location of the city provided natural protection from enemy attacks. The central part of the city was surrounded by an earthen rampart. A fortress wall (Kremlin) was erected on it, behind which were located the courts of princes and nobility, and later churches and monasteries.
According to experts, there are about a dozen ancient Slavic cities of the Upper Poochye located on Kaluga land, on the territory of the current Kaluga region or near its borders. According to the “Chronology of Russian Chronicles” by N. G. Berezhkov, from December 1146 to the first half of 1147, in the strife of the Chernigov princes Izyaslav and Vladimir Davydovich with the Novgorod-Seversky prince Svyatoslav Olgovich in the Land of the Vyatichi, the cities of Kerensk (Serensk), Kozelesk (Kozelsk), Dedoslavl, Devyagorsk, Lyubinets, Omosov, Lobynsk at the mouth of the Protva, Olov, etc. According to the chronicles, Svyatoslav Olgovich, having become the prince of Chernigov, bought villages, including in 1155 the city of Vorotynesk (Vorotynsk-fortress at the mouth of the Ugra), Gorodensk, Bryn , Lyubutsk, Mezetsk (Meshchevsk), Mosalsk, Obolensk, Yaroslavl (Maloyaroslavets). There is no exact information about who and when these cities were built. But the fact that in the first half of the 12th century they belonged to the Slavic tribe of the Vyatichi cannot cause doubt.
And this indicates that the Vyatichi in the 12th century mastered crafts, built villages and cities, and knew how to build fortifications, defending themselves from enemies. This was confirmed by excavations of ancient Serensk, burned in 1231 by Prince Yaroslav of Novgorod and the “sons of Konstantinov.” The handicraft and cultural flourishing of this city is evidenced by several dozen foundry molds, book clasps, writing, copper matrices and a spiral drill, an iron mask (mask) to protect the face of a warrior in battle, etc., found during excavations carried out in the early 1980s. In the 12th century century another was founded ancient city Lyudimesk, which was located on the Berezuy River 4 km from the village of Kurakino (now Grishovo). And nearby, on the bank of Berezuya, there is a burial mound and an ancient settlement of the 12th–13th centuries. In 1246, Tarusa was first mentioned as a fortress city on the Oka River, at the confluence of the river. Tarusa, the center of the appanage possession of the Tarusa prince Yuri, the son of the Chernigov prince. Mikhail Vsevolodovich. D.I. Malinin calls Tarusa one of the most ancient cities in the Kaluga region, built by the Vyatichi in the 10th century. Existence here in the XI-XII centuries. The settlements of the Vyatichi Slavs are also proven by archaeological data.
It arose on the site of a Slavic pre-Mongol settlement and Przemysl (Polish: Przemysl, Premysl). During an examination by archaeologist M.V. Fechner in 1953 of the Peremyshl settlement near the Assumption Cathedral, fragments of vessels of the 9th-10th centuries were discovered, pottery ceramics with wavy and linear ornaments of the 18th-13th centuries were found. Przemysl has been known since 1328 as a small fortress, protected by steep cliffs of the floodplain terraces of the Oka and Zhizdra rivers and a deep ravine. Later the fortress occupied the opposite side of the ravine. A powerful earthen rampart simultaneously served as a dam for a defensive reservoir and a platform for the deployment of reserves inside the fortification. Vorotynsk, located on the Vyssa River, a tributary of the Oka, is equally ancient. The first chronicle mention of him dates back to 1155, when one of the Chernigov princes Svyatoslav Olgovich “swapped cities” with his nephew, the son of the Grand Duke of Kiev (from 1139 to 1146) Vsevolod Olgovich (“taking from him Snov, Vorotynsk, Karachev and giving him others for them"). According to the hypothesis of A.I. Batalin, based on toponymic and archaeological materials, the emergence of Vorotynsk with the preaching of Christianity in the land of the Vyatichi. It was at that time that the legendary hermits Boris and Protas settled on the site of the future city. At the same time, according to researchers, the small secular settlement of Voskresensk arose - the core of the future city of Vorotynsk. The settlement on the southern outskirts of the city with the remains of the fortress moat and ramparts also date back to this time. Not far from this place, where the river. Vyssa makes a bizarre bend where an ancient Slavic settlement was located, the cultural layer on which reaches 3 meters. Here, along with signs of culture of the first half of the 1st millennium AD. e. Many objects of early Slavic culture and the Middle Ages, tools, jewelry, Tatar and Lithuanian copper coins, etc. were found.
Foundry crucibles and furnaces, many household utensils, including metal hooks for fishing, a sickle-shaped knife, beads and earrings of rare beauty were also found during excavations of the ancient settlement of Benitsa in the present Borovsky district on the banks of the Protva River. In our history, this village has been known since 1150, together with the neighboring village of Bobrovnitsy, from the charter of the Grand Duke of Smolensk Rostislav Mstislavovich, to whom he transferred the newly colonized villages of the Vyatichi to the jurisdiction of his bishopric: Drosenskoye and Yasenskoye, Benitsy and Bobrovnitsy. The villages of Benitsa and Bobrovniki, Borovsky district, have retained their names to this day. P.V. Golubovsky, the author of the “History of the Smolensk Land” published in 1893, puts the villages of Benitsy and Bobrovnitsy on the map of the Smolensk principality as trading volost centers. It is known that the Novgorod-Seversky prince Svyatoslav Olgovich, together with his ally Yuri Dolgoruky, going to Smolensk, took “people golyad” in the upper reaches of the Protva, enriching his squad with captivity. Modern scientist N.I. Smirnov in the article “On the Question of Outcasts” notes that the charter of the Smolensk bishopric of 1150 is “the fact of the transformation of communal lands into land ownership of the Smolensk bishopric that were not previously part of feudal land ownership”... So inside of the free tribe of Vyatichi, the first signs of generic differentiation appear. As Kaluga art researcher V. G. Putsko notes in “Essay on the History of Orthodoxy on Kaluga Land,” “their Christianization is connected with the colonization movement that came from Smolensk region Krivichi, and then from the southern Dnieper region."
However, not only the Vyatichi, but also their neighbors in the Upper Poochya Krivichi and, obviously, the native population of the Golyad tribe had their own cities. Neither the chronicles nor historical researchers have substantiated that the chronicle "golyads" migrated to the upper reaches of the Oka, Desna or Moskva Rivers. V. M. Kashkarov in the article “On the issue of ancient population Kaluga province" writes: "In Meshchovsky district, in the place formed by the confluence of the Ugra River into the Oka, the memory of golyad still lives on. According to legend... the robber Golyaga lived on one of the mountains, according to others - Golyada." The remarkable researcher of the 19th century 3. Khodakovsky did not share the "Western" theory of resettlement, arguing that "The people or people "Golyad" are the 14th of number of Slavic regions, which are named after the rivers and streams that irrigate villages of the same names as them... This tract is Golyadyanka, flowing into the Moscow River. In the scribe books of 1623 it is called Golyadya. They say that our history is imprinted in the names of cities and villages, rivers and tracts, they record the language of the earth. So in the names of the villages of the Kaluga region, the land tells its own historical language. The villages of Vyatchino or Vyatskoye say that the Vyatichi lived here; Kritskoye are Krivichi, and Glyadovo (the old name of Golyadovo Borovsky district) is Golyady. An echo of the long-time inhabitants of these places can be heard in the names of the villages of Goltyaevo, Golenki, Golichevka, Golukhino, Golotskoye, Golchan. In the neighboring Moscow region, until the beginning of the 20th century, the Nachinsky Golets tract existed. A number of names of historical villages of the Kaluga and Tula provinces are also known, belonging to another neighboring Vyatichi and Golyad of the Merya tribe. Perhaps both “Golyad” and “Merya”, having merged with the Vyatichi, also had their own cities. It is not for nothing that the ancient Scandinavians, the northern neighbors of the Eastern Slavs, called multi-tribal Rus' “Gardarik” - the country of cities. According to scientists, before the invasion of the Horde in Rus' there were at least 24 large cities with fortifications.
The exact dates of the foundation of many cities are unknown, and the year of foundation is considered to be the first chronicle mention. Obviously, they existed for more than a decade before the first Russian chronicler mentioned them. But can we trust the chronicles? For example, it is unknown what authentic sources were used by the famous scientist, discoverer of the ancient copy of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” A. I. Musin-Pushkin, placing on the map “the European part of Russia before the invasion of the Tatars” along with the chronicle cities of our region Kozelsky, Przemysl, Lyubeysk ( chronicle Lobynsk) and Koluga? Also questionable is map No. 24 of the historical atlas of Poland, compiled on German and reflective geographical boundaries Poland for 1370. The atlas was published in Minsk in our time. However, it is not known from what original map No. 24 was published. If it is based on an ancient original, then the map is trustworthy. Among the cities bordering Lithuania, Mozhaisk, Koluga, Przemysl and others are included on the map. It turns out that the message of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd, dating back to 1371, in which he mentions Koluga as a city taken from him, had no legal basis. And according to the Resurrection list of the chronicle, Koluga was not listed among the “Lithuanian cities”.
But the authentic ancient city of Lyubutsk is known on the right bank of the Oka River, 4 km below the confluence of the river. Dugny, which since the 4th century belonged to the Principality of Lithuania, being its leading fortress. This is evidenced by an ancient settlement dating back to the 9th century. Before the Great Patriotic War, there was a church on it, in ancient times, apparently converted from a Lithuanian watchtower. The settlement is bounded on the south by the steep bank of the Oka River, and on the east and north by the Lyubuchaya stream. along a spacious and deep beam. On the western side of the fort, a rampart up to 30 m high and more than 100 m long has been preserved. In 1372, the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Ivanovich (Donskoy) stopped the Lithuanian prince Olgerd, who was marching with an army to Moscow. Nikon’s chronicle tells about it this way: “And the crowd was rushing near the city of Lyubugsk and, first of all, the Muscovites were chasing their guards, the Lithuanian regiment and they were beaten, and the prince himself. Olgird escaped into a stand against himself, both armies armed themselves, and between them the enemy was steep and deep. And stood for many days, and died, and lived at odds with the world.” Some historians believe that Rodion Oslyabya and Alexander Peresvet, participants in the Battle of Kulikovo, were Lyubut boyars before they became monks. Lubutsk remained a Lithuanian fortress until 1396. Then, in the world of 1406, it passed to Moscow and became the inheritance of Vladimir Andreevich the Brave. However, in 1473 he again found himself under the rule of Lithuania. In 1460, Lubutsk is mentioned as a point that Khan Akhmat reached during his movement through Lithuanian lands towards Moscow. The city finally came under the authority of Moscow only in 1503. Ivan Sh bequeathed it to his son Andrei. In the 15th century, Lyubutsk ceased to be a fortress on the Oka and became a settlement.
As for other Slavic cities of the Upper Poochie, in the 12th-13th centuries their growth was caused by an increased outflow of population, as historian V.O. writes. Klyuchevsky, “from central Dnieper Rus'... and this ebb marked the beginning of the second period of our history, just as the previous period began with the tide of the Slavs in the Dnieper region.” Indeed, with the reign of Yuri Dolgoruky, not only Moscow became known, but also Kostroma, Gorodets on the Volga, Starodub on the Klyazma, Galich and Zvenigorod, Vyshgorod on the nobility, etc. To the ancient Slavic cities of the upper Oka River Kozelsk (1146), Serensk (1147), Vorotynsk (1155), Gorodensk (1158), Bryni and Lyubutsk are added to Serpeisk, Meshchovsk, Mosalsk, Obolensk, Yaroslavl (Maloyaroslavets), Luzha, Borovsk, Medyn, Sukhodrovl, Kaluga.
Of course, Kaluga as a city developed much later than other Slavic cities. Kaluga was first mentioned in sources in 1371 in a letter from the Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerdt to Patriarch Philotheus of Constantinople to Metropolitan Alexy of Kyiv and Rus' and the governor of the Grand Duke of Vladimir-Suzdal, the future Donskoy. The character of Kaluga in the first three centuries of its existence was explained by the strategic defensive significance of the border fortress. But ancient settlements in its vicinity existed here long before its foundation. In 1892, the chairman of the Kaluga scientific Archaeological Commission, archaeologist D.I. Chetyrkin, examined 12 mounds near Kaluga and along the banks of the Kaluga River, attributing them to the 1st millennium AD. e. Excavations of a settlement on the right bank of the Kaluzhka River near the former village of Kaluzhki (now the village of Zhdamirovo), presumably the original location of Kaluga, revealed fragments of clay ceramics, arrowheads, a slate spindle whorl, a bone ring, and iron keys that date back to the 12th-15th centuries. Probably, the settlement originally belonged to the patriarchal community of the Eastern Baltic tribes, classified by archaeologists as the so-called Moshchin culture (based on the discovery of a similar settlement for the first time near the village of Moshchiny, Mosalsky district). The area of the fort with the remains of earthen ramparts and ditches: southern, facing the river. Oka and western - to the river. Kaluzhka is about 3 thousand square meters. m. The ditches on the other two sides are badly destroyed. The height of the artificial rampart reaches 6 m, and its depth is 3 m. From this place, our city, for unknown reasons, was later moved 6 versts lower, to the mouth of the Kaluzhka River, at its confluence with the Oka, where there is another settlement with traces of earthen rampart and ditch. Even at the beginning of the 17th century, in old scribe books, the mouth of Kaluga was called the “old settlement” belonging to the “Kaluga coachmen”. According to the description of Academician V. Zuev, in the 18th century the place was surrounded by a deep ditch, from which a high rampart rose as an almost straight wall, encircling the settlement on three sides, while from the side of the Oka River the settlement opened up as a ravine. At the corners of the main shaft, there were hills with peals, on which, apparently, there were wooden towers. In addition, from these artificial hills there were still slopes in the ditch and, finally, above the ditch there were more similar mounds, perhaps for secondary towers. The length of the shaft on the Kaluzhka side was 100 steps, on the field side 230 steps. The settlement at the mouth of Kaluga attracted the attention of researchers. At the end of the 19th century I.D. Chetyrkin excavated there, finding traces of a fire, numerous animal bones and fragments of pottery. Having supported V. Zuev’s assumption that the first Kaluga stood here, having collected new historical and ethnographic evidence, he put forward a new version about the reason for its transition from the banks of Kaluga to Yachenka. In his opinion, the ancient outpost of Kaluga, as well as the neighboring fortress of Gorodensk, mentioned in the Charter of Yuri Dolgoruky in 1158, stood on the fiery border, covering the road to Aleksin and Tula. In 1911, students of the Kaluga branch of the Archaeological Institute conducted new excavations, the results of which disappointed the researchers: the age of the objects found here dated back to the 16th century. Local historian D.I. Malinin suggested that for some reason the pestilence of 1386 and 1419 or the location near a high road and enemy raids forced the residents under Vasily I or Vasily II to move again to a new place - half a mile further - to the bank of the Yachenka River , near the Myronositsa Church. Namely, under the Kaluga appanage prince Simeon Ivanovich (1487-1518), the son of Grand Duke Ivan III, at the beginning of the 16th century Kaluga was located on the site of the former Simeon settlement, on which, according to legend, the palace of this prince stood. Later the fortress from the river bank. Yachenki (moved) was moved to the bank of the Oka River in the territory of the city park. Before his death, Ivan III (1505) divided the volosts between his five sons: Vasily, Dmitry, Simeon and Andrey. He bequeathed to Simeon the Bezhetsky upper region, Kaluga, Kozelsk and the Kozelsk volosts. From 1505-1518 Kaluga becomes the center of an appanage principality headed by Prince Simeon Ivanovich. In 1512 Kaluga was attacked Crimean Tatars(Hagarites). Simeon fought with the Tatars on the Oka and defeated them, according to legend, thanks to the help of the holy fool Lavrenty of Kaluga. For this feat, Prince Simeon and righteous Lawrence became locally revered saints. However, local historians M.V. Fekhner and N.M. Maslov believe that the Kaluga fortress was founded on the Yachenka River by the Grand Duke of Moscow Simeon Ivanovich the Proud (d. 1353).
The ancient Pyatnitskoye cemetery adjacent to the Simeonov settlement reminded of the antiquity of the settlement itself. According to the plans and maps of the general survey of Kaluga for 1776, Academician Zuev found out that the second ancient cemetery in Kaluga was only the necropolis of the Laurentian Monastery, where priests and especially revered citizens of Kaluga were buried. The area of the Simeon settlement, adjacent to the old cemetery, was called the “Old settlement” according to the land survey books and, according to the scribe books of the 17th century, amounted to four tithes. Around it were the coachmen's gardens. The first studies of the Simeon settlement were carried out in 1781 by academician V. Zuev. The fort was once surrounded by a high earthen rampart with a gate and a deep ditch on the eastern side: from the south the fort was protected by the deep Serebryakovsky ravine, from the north by Semenovsky, from the west by a steep slope to the Yachenka River. The length and width of the settlement were 310 and 150 meters. The very location between two deep ravines and the still visible embankment suggested that a small fortress with corner watchtowers and entrance gates could have stood here. Only on the eastern side did a road lead to the settlement along a ditch filled in at the outskirts. Previously, a bridge could be thrown across this ditch, which, if necessary, was raised or dismantled. In addition, in some places the remains of utility pits and cellars have been preserved. Having examined the entire square and its surroundings, V. Zuev came to the conclusion that it was here that Kaluga crossed from the bank of the Kaluga River, and the founder of the fortress could be the Kaluga appanage prince Simeon Ivanovich. Archaeological excavations in 1956 discovered an insignificant cultural layer. An archaeological expedition of the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1956 made a deep cut into the fortress rampart that was least damaged by destruction and established that there was an old fortification (outpost) here at the end of the 15th century.
A variety of data about the ancient inhabitants of our area has been collected by archaeologists. But the real historical appearance of that distant era is given by authentic portraits of the Vyatichi people, recreated by the remarkable anthropologist M. M. Gerasimov based on skulls from Vyatichi burial mounds in the Moscow region. The sculptural reconstructions of Professor Gerasimov and his students have received widespread worldwide appreciation. He was the first to establish a direct relationship between the shape of the skull bones and the soft facial covering, and found standards for marking the thickness of the covering in various places heads, with the help of which the individual facial features of a person are recreated from the preserved skull. The method of plastic reconstruction is documented, and its accuracy has been repeatedly tested in practice, including forensics.
Today in the State Historical Museum in Moscow you can see a reconstructed documentary-accurate sculptural portrait of a young girl from the Vyatichi tribe. She, according to Academician A. G. Veksler, resembles the women in the frescoes of Andrei Rublev, paintings by V. M. Vasnetsov and M. V. Nesterov: ... “it was precisely this image of the “red maiden” that inspired the ancient storytellers - not even in a fairy tale, I can't describe it with a pen. A young face with thin, gentle features. The head is decorated with a tribal headdress - a bandage with openwork silver rings with seven diverging blades attached to the temples and woven into the hair...” According to tradition, every Vyatichi woman wore such rings. A twisted wire hoop - a hryvnia - and a necklace adorned the chest and neck. Metal jewelry combined with stone beads and embroidered different colors the shirt gave the girl an elegant look.
Another restored sculpture is of a forty-year-old peasant man. “According to chronicles and epics, archaeological and ethnographic data, one can imagine the harsh life of this man,” writes A.G. Veksler, “... with an ax and a plow, he worked on the small plot that fed him. More than once he, a militiaman - “howling”, with the same ax in his hands, had to defend his native land from enemies... He lived in a tiny log house “istba”, heated in black, as it is said about such a hut in the ancient Russian manuscript “The Word of Daniil the Zatochnik” : without enduring smoky sorrows, you won’t see any warmth.” During one of the severe pestilences, illness fell upon this powerful and tall man (his height exceeded 190 cm). One involuntarily recalls the ancient Russian epic hero plowman Mikula Selyaninovich, who surpassed in strength and dexterity the entire princely squad of 30 dashing young men, and even Prince Volga himself. "... The sculpture depicts the face of a courageous, handsome man. He has a straight-set head, a finely defined nose, and an energetic, strongly protruding chin. The wide, sloping forehead is cut with wrinkles - traces of deep thoughts and difficult experiences. The man is depicted wearing a “ruba” - a simple peasant shirt, decorated with embroidery and fastened with small bells. Such a bell clasp and the remains of clothing with elements of embroidery were discovered during excavations of burial mounds near Moscow. Hairstyle - bowl hair, mustache, manageable beard - all this was restored from miniatures of ancient Russian chronicles. This is what a 12th-century peasant Smerd, a contemporary of Yuri Dolgoruky, looked like. Thanks to the reconstruction method, the appearance of the Fatyanovo resident, who lived about 3.5 thousand years ago, was also restored. Scientists agree that all portraits are as close to reality as possible, documentary and at the same time artistically expressive.
Thus, step by step, the most ancient horizons of the history of the Vyatichi tribe are gradually opening up, and our territory is especially rich in these finds, which has become a treasury of a wide variety of historical and archaeological monuments. A study of local attractions indicates that the territory of Kaluga and the surrounding areas have been inhabited since the Neolithic period, periodically preserving and renewing human settlements over the next several thousand years in various historical eras. Dated antiquities and art obtained during excavations of local monuments have important to study the history of ancient settlements on the territory of Kaluga. The uniqueness of the historical and archaeological monuments of the territory of our region requires taking the most decisive measures to preserve them for posterity.
Literature: Karamzin N. M. History of the Russian State. Reprint. ed. (1842-1844) in 3 books. - M, 1988; Zelnitskaya E. G. Research of ancient historical places, or tracts, which should be located in the Kaluga province // Otechestvennye zapiski, 1826. Part 27; Nikolskaya T.N. Vorotynsk // Ancient Rus' and the Slavs. - M., 1978; Malinin D.I. Kaluga. Experience of a historical guide to Kaluga and the main centers provinces. - Kaluga, 1992. P.227 -229; Sizov V.I. Dyakovo settlement near Moscow // Proceedings of the Archaeological Society. - St. Petersburg, 1897, p. 164; Zabelin I.E. Research on the oldest original settlement of Moscow // Proceedings of the 8th Archaeological Congress. - M.: T. 1, 1897, P. 234; V. E. Produvnov. This is my Kaluga. - Kaluga. Golden Alley. 2002; V. Pukhov. History of the city of Kaluga. Kaluga. Golden Alley. 1998. .
Oleg MOSIN,
Svetlana MOSINA
"Dark Ages" of our region
At the end of the 1st millennium AD Slavic tribes begin active migration to the north. They completely absorb the Dyakov culture - some of the Finnish tribes are forced out to the north, and most of assimilates. According to V.V. Sidorov, in our region, assimilation was painless, since the Slavic element penetrated into the local Finno-Ugric environment long before the main wave of Slavic migration. Its traces can be traced in the interaction of the Ienevo and Ressetian cultures, in the traces of the Fatyanovo culture (attributed to the Trypillian Slavic world), in the possible formation of a separate Kashira culture, where there was an active process of cultural exchange between the Slavs, the Balts (an ethnic group that arose, in his opinion, not without the influence Slavic world) and the Finno-Ugric tribes of the Dyakovites (from the 5th to the 2nd centuries BC).
This was probably the first wave of Slavic migration in our region. It is quite understandable that in the absence of any semblance of roads, migration took place along rivers and, above all, along the Oka. From the upper reaches of the river to our area of the middle reaches of the Oka and further to the north and northeast. This well-trodden path was preserved in subsequent stages of Slavic migration. It can be assumed that in our region at the end of the 1st millennium BC and in the 1st millennium AD, there was a certain multiethnic group that emerged from the merger of Finno-Ugric, Baltic and Slavic tribes. It is the existence of this multi-ethnic group that can explain the mysterious, still scientifically inexplicable, disappearance of the Dyakovo settlements in the 5th-7th centuries AD.
The version of the formation of a new multiethnic group under the pressure of the first wave of Slavic migration is very interesting and can become an explanation for the “disappearance” of the Dyakovites, who simply disappeared into the Balts and Slavs. Although even in this case it is not completely clear what happened in our region from the 5th to the 8th centuries, when no traces of the Dyakovites were found, and according to chronicle and archaeological information, the Slavic tribe of the Vyatichi had not yet appeared in the Oka basin?
What happened during these 200-300 years, which scientists call the “dark ages”? There are no answers yet, which means that new archaeological finds in our region are still waiting for their researchers, which may allow us to lift the veil of secrecy over this issue.
Nowadays, there is no longer any doubt that the partial penetration of the Slavs into the Oka River basin has been noticeable since the end of the 4th century (after the invasion of the Huns) and intensified from the middle of the 6th century (after the invasion of the Avars).
Climate change also encouraged the Slavs to migrate. Since the end of the 4th century, Europe experienced quite cold snap. The 5th century was especially cold, with the lowest temperatures in the last 2000 years. The great Slavic migration began.
The strength of the Slavs lay in the fact that they were not tied to one landscape zone and were equally successful in economic activities in dense areas. European forests and in the fertile feather grass steppes. The basis of the Slavic economy was slash-and-burn agriculture, which, in combination with hunting, fishing and forestry, became the basis of the economy. This allowed the Slavs to settle on any free or sparsely populated lands. And our region, as we have already shown with the example of the “disappearance” of the Dyakov tribes, was just relatively free. The first Slavic scouts appreciated these advantages.
When did the Big Men come?
Only in the 8th century did the Vyatichi, bearers of the Romny-Borshev archaeological culture, appear on the Oka. Where do they come from? - a question that is still open. The author of "The Tale of Bygone Years" Nestor, explaining the name "Vyatichi", will call them the direct descendants of a certain Vyatko ("and Vyatko settled with his family on the Oka, from him they were called Vyatichi"). At the same time, speaking about this legendary tribal prince, he reports that together with his brother Radim (from whom the Radimichi descended), they descended from the “Poles”, i.e. were immigrants from the territory of modern Poland, or rather, they came from the territories occupied by Polish Slavic tribes.
It is likely that the Vyatichi Wends came to the Oka River, our region, along the “Amber Road” road trodden by merchants. They walked for a long time, with stops for a hundred years in the Dnieper region (VI-VIII centuries), leaving traces of their stay there and absorbing the features of the Volyntsevo, and later the Romen-Borshev culture of the local Slavs. Nestor also hints at the united and interpenetrating ethnocultural roots of the East Slavic tribes, noting in The Tale of Bygone Years: “And the Polyans, and the Drevlyans, and the Severos, and the Radimichi, and the Vyatichi and the Croatians live in the world.” But at the same time, Nestor emphasizes that the Radichimichi and Vyatichi came from the west, from the land of the Poles (that is, at that time from the country of the Wends), to the land of the original inhabitants of the Dnieper region - the Polyans and the Drevlyans. (“Polyan living about themselves, like Rkokhom, being from the Slovenian family and drug-loving glade, and the Derevlyans from the Slovenians and called the Drevlyans; Radimichi and Vyatichi from the Poles”).
Going further, they absorbed the Vyatichi and the Moshchin culture of the Baltic tribes, which they met in the 7th-8th centuries in the upper reaches of the Oka, having moved from there from the left bank of the Dnieper. From the Moshin people they took the semicircular form of building the ramparts of fortified settlements and the construction of burial mounds with ring fences. At the same time, the Vyatichi began to bury horses and weapons in the mound along with the deceased, as the Balts did. The Vyatichi also adopted the custom of decorating themselves with neck torches and rings. And finally, at the end of the 8th - beginning of the 9th century, the Vyatichi came to our region. Sparsely populated and almost untouched. With excellent places for establishing typical Vyatichi settlements - on the high banks of rivers and ravines. Without bloodshed, the Vyatichi assimilated the local population of the first Slavs who mixed with the Finno-Ugrians and Balts. It is no coincidence that the first settlements of the Vyatichi in our region were located on the site of the former Dyakovo settlements - on settlement 2 and settlements 1, 4 and 5 Koltovo, on the settlement Lidskoye, as well as on the left bank of the Oka on the settlements Smedovo II and Smedovo III.
The basis of the Vyatichi economy was agriculture and hunting. The first settlers began life in a new place by building a hut or dugout, and after the first harvest they built a log house with a cage for poultry. They heated the huts in a black way. Afterwards a cattle shed, a barn, a barn and a threshing floor appeared. Relatives of the first settlers settled next to the first peasant estate - “po-chinkom”. Small agricultural villages were often temporary in nature and moved to other places as small slash croplands were depleted. The Vyatichi preferred to hunt beaver, which then lived in abundance on all the rivers and streams of the modern territory of the Kashira region. Ermine, squirrel and marten furs were an important item of trade with neighboring Finnish and Baltic tribes. In addition to farming and hunting, the Vyatichi were engaged in beekeeping and fishing. The natural conditions of our region gave the Vyatichi people the opportunity to farm actively and successfully. Pottery, blacksmithing and other crafts were additional sources of livelihood for the Pooka Slavs.
The earliest traces of the presence of the Vyatichi in our region date back to the end of the 8th - beginning of the 9th century. This is confirmed by finds of ceramics characteristic of the Romny-Borshev culture made in the Kashira region and in the territories adjacent to it. It is similar to the one found by T.N. Nikolskaya in the early layers during excavations of the Vyatichi city of Serensk (Kaluga region).
Rough molded pottery of this type was found in our settlement 1 in Koltovo (Koltovo 2) and in settlement 4 (Koltovo 8).
The early layers of the cultural layer of Detinets Kolteska (fortification 1), settlements 1 and 5 Koltovo, also give grounds to talk about the appearance of the Vyatichi here in the late 700s - early 800s. n. e. The Vyatichi lived in the 8th-10th centuries in the area of the present village. Ledovo, in the village of Lidskoye (village of Lidy); and also not far from the borders of the modern Kashira district on the left bank of the Oka in the village of Kordon (Serpukhov district); on the Piyanaya Gora tract near the present Malyushina dacha; in the village of Luzhniki (all - Stupinsky district). Archaeologists found here molded thick-walled ceramics of the Romny type - rough molded pots, with a lumpy surface, with grains of impurities, along the edge of the rim there are notches made with a fingernail or a cord wound around a stick. It should be noted that archaeological finds are the main source of our ideas about the lifestyle and development of the Vyatichi. Since the only mention of the Vyatichi in the ancient Nestor Chronicle, although it contains an accurate description of the customs and way of life of our ancestors, already bears the imprint of the political bias of the rulers of Kievan Rus.
It is curious that Nestor and other chroniclers, creating the official version of the history of Kievan Rus, excessively praise the ancestors of the Kyivans - the Polyans, without mentioning government entities among other Eastern Slavs, including the Vyatichi, belittling the Vyatichi and other tribes. But in vain, if we compare the development of Russian lands in the 9th-13th centuries by the number of fortifications, it turns out that most of them were in the Dnieper region (original Kievan Rus) - 49% of the total number of all known ancient Russian fortifications, and in “second place” the lands of the Vyatichi on the Oka - 16.6% of the total number of all known ancient Russian settlements (so much for the “animal lifestyle in the forest”!). As the pre-revolutionary researcher of ancient Russian cities I.D. Belyaev noted: “... This unknown region, completely forgotten by our previous chronicles, was seething with activity and life no less than other regions of Rus', ... there were many cities in it.”
Arab and Persian merchants spoke about the greatness of the Vyatichi state. IN IX-X centuries they mention the large city of Vantit known to them on the Oka, i.e. Vyatkov or Vyatich. At the same time, only three Slavic cities were known to the Arabs at that time: “Cuiaba” - Kyiv; "Slavia" - Novgorod; "Artania" - Vantit on the Oka. In the Mordovian language, the word “Artania” means “a country on lock (locked).” And it is no coincidence that the Arabs mentioned that the Vyatichi did not allow anyone to come to them and killed strangers. It is no coincidence that already at a later time, in the X-XII centuries. The land of the Vyatichi, lost in deep forests, was considered inaccessible and dangerous by residents of other regions. The usual road from Kyiv to the ancient Russian cities of Rostov and Suzdal went in a roundabout way through Smolensk and the upper reaches of the Volga. Few travelers dared to travel through the dangerous forests of the Vyatichi region. Let us at least recall the first feat of the epic hero Ilya Muromets, who traveled along the direct route from Murom to Kyiv through our “wild lands”. This was so incredible for that time that, according to an epic legend, the people of Kiev ridiculed Ilya Muromets when he told them about traveling through the “locked country.” And they would not have believed it if the epic hero had not shown them proof - the Nightingale the Robber. Perhaps the Vyatichi, like forest people, knew how to live in trees, hiding in centuries-old oaks, defending themselves and attacking from above, while signaling to each other by whistling. It is no coincidence that the wonderful Vyatichi warriors, who kept their land “locked”, took part in the legendary campaign of Prince Oleg in 907 to Constantinople (Constantinople).
The basis of the Vyatichi economy in the 9th-10th centuries continued to be agriculture and cattle breeding. Towards the end of this period, shifting agriculture began to change to arable farming. But this transition took place among the Vyatichi, living in the forest region, more slowly than among other East Slavic tribes. The main tools of labor were an iron axe, a hoe and a large knife - a “mower”. (At settlement 4 in Koltovo, archaeologists found a fragment of a scythe and an iron knife. In Koltovo 7, in addition to the usual abundance of ancient Russian linear and wavy ceramics, archaeologists found iron knives and pink salmon scythes). A harrow was used - a harrow. They harvested the crops with a sickle. The most popular agricultural crops of the Vyatichi were millet and turnips. The Vyatichi raised cattle, pigs, and horses. Forage was harvested in the flooded meadows of the Oka region. By the abundance of bird bones, one can judge the development of poultry farming.
The hunt was for fur-bearing animals. Moreover, the Vyatichi ate the meat of hunted beaver, which allowed Nestor to write in the chronicle that the Vyatichi “ate unclean things.” Honey and wax were obtained by beekeeping from forest bees. The Vyatichi actively used rivers. In addition to fishing, they traveled along the Oka and Volga to the Caspian Sea in single-lane boats, with the purpose of exchanging goods, and along portages they got to Kyiv and Novgorod. In the district of the Kashira region there are several more Vyatichi settlements dating from the 11th-13th centuries. On the Oka River these are Teshilov (Serpukhovsky district) and Khoroshevka (Lopasnya?) (Yasnogorsky district), on the Osetra river - Shchuchye (Sokolovka) (Venevsky district), Bavykino and Bebekhino (Zaraisky district), etc.
Craftsmen settled in the settlements. Archaeological excavations indicate the development of blacksmithing and metal casting among the Vyatichi. Jewelry craftsmanship, weaving (slate and clay spindle whorls were often found at the archaeological sites of Koltovo), pottery and stone-cutting were developed.
If in the pottery craft of the Eastern Slavs there was a unification at this time - ceramics began to be made on a potter's wheel and decorated with the same linear or wavy pattern for everyone (this ceramics is found in all archaeological sites discovered in the Kashira region), then in jewelry there were differences. In the jewelry craft, the Vyatichi were only slightly inferior to Kyiv and made bracelets, rings, temporal bones, crosses, amulets, etc.
Our region is the center of ancient Russian trade.
As we remember, the country of the Vyatichi was a “country on lock.” But suddenly the ancient Russian chronicler reports that from the middle of the 9th century (859) our ancestors began to pay tribute to the Khazar Khaganate: “And the Khazars took from the glades, and from the northerners, and from the Vyatichi, a silver coin and a squirrel from the smoke (of the house).” At the same time, D.S. Likhachev believes that this passage in the “Tale of Bygone Years” can be translated as “by a silver coin and by a squirrel,” or it can also be translated as “by a winter (white) squirrel and by a squirrel.” Then it turns out that our ancestors paid a very insignificant tribute to the Khazars. Judge for yourself if later, according to the laws of Russkaya Pravda, a “vira” (fine) was established for a wound - 30 squirrels, and for a bruise - 15 skins. Doesn’t such a tribute to the Khazars, more like a small tax, speak about the voluntariness of submission? It was very convenient for the Vyatichi who began to engage in trade to be “friends” with the Khazars, whose merchants at that time controlled all eastern trade, which brought in a lot of income. And for this it was possible to enter the Kaganate on honorable terms, receiving a lot of benefits and privileges in exchange for a tax - a small tribute. We can say that by paying a small tribute to the Khazars, the Vyatichi retained maximum autonomy, but at the same time received enormous advantages for trade with the developed Arab East.
The main coin in this trade was silver Arab dirhams (a thin silver coin with a diameter of 2-2.5 cm, covered on both sides with inscriptions - pious sayings and containing the name of the ruler, the place and year of minting according to the Hijri calendar, dating from the year of the flight of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina). At the same time, eastern merchants traded not only with the Vyatichi. The main flow of goods was in transit through our lands “from the Varangians to the Greeks” - to Western Europe and Byzantium (Byzantine coins were found in a treasure near the village of Khitrovka). It is clear that the militant Vyatichi, in addition to income from trade, received payment for this Oka transit. Moreover, a fee for armed guards for escorting merchant caravans, consisting of flat-bottomed boats and longships along the Great Volga Route. Wealth began to settle in our region from the 9th century, giving impetus not only to the development of the economy, but also marking the beginning of the social stratification of Vyatichi society. Thus, during the excavations of settlement 2 in Koltovo, archaeologists discovered a free-standing, fortified with a ring rampart and a moat, a rich estate with ancient Russian pottery ceramics. Archaeologists find the first castles and their parts in the layers of that period. This is a clear confirmation that it was the Kashira land and our region that became centers of intense international trade. This is evidenced by numerous treasures of the 9th-10th centuries found in our land. Only 15 finds have been registered on the territory of modern Moscow and the Moscow region. Of these, 6 (almost half!) are in the Kashira district. (Our first local historian A.I. Voronkov mentioned another treasure of Arabic coins found in Topkanovo, but there are no descriptions of this treasure or other mentions. Surely the legendary trading city of Vantit-Vyatich was located in our region, and not in Voronezh ? Perhaps the version of some historians is correct that the capital of the Vyatichi state, the city of Kordno (the Arabs called this city Khordab and described how the Vyatichi squad collected tribute from the population) was located on the territory of the modern Venevsky district, bordering our region? Then the road to the capital of the Vyatichi could walk through our land, along the rivers Osetr and B. Smedva!
The Arab traveler Gardizi, in an 11th-century work, noted that the Rus “do not sell goods except for minted dirhams.” A large mass of oriental coins settled in our region, which contributed to the development of monetary circulation. It is no coincidence that already a hundred years later, in 964, the Vyatichi began to pay increased tribute to the Khazars with a silver coin (shchelyag) and not from the house (smoke), but from the plow (ral) - from the plowman (“Kozar gives a shchelyag from the rala”). Such a tribute was also not too heavy for the Vyatichi, since Arab travelers reported that the Vyatichi’s silver dirhams were used to make monist jewelry for women, sometimes up to a thousand in number.
What did the Vyatichi sell for Arab silver? The famous Arab geographer Ibn Khordadbeh wrote about expensive furs in his “Book of State Routes” (circa 846). The Tale of Bygone Years notes that furs, honey and “servants” (captive slaves) came from Rus'. In Rus' you could buy a marten skin for a dirham, and even a squirrel skin for half a dirham. According to Ibn-Khor-dadbeh, the most expensive slave cost about 300 dirhams. The Arabs at that time had a good and steady demand for furs, which had become fashionable in the Arab caliphates. Sables, martens, squirrels and ermines from the Vyatichi region adorned the shoulders of noble Khazars and Arabs. Eastern merchants also bought mammoth bone, which is found in our region to this day, and at that time, presumably, was available in abundance along the river banks in “mammoth cemeteries.”
The Vyatichi bought jewelry from Arab merchants: “The most magnificent decoration (considered) among them (the Rus) is green beads made from the ceramics that come on ships,” recalled Ibn Fadlan, “they buy such beads for a dirham and string them like necklaces for their wives."
Internal trade exchanges in our region also developed. The first graveyards appeared - places of local trade and exchange of goods, small markets. This was the period of the Khazar “yoke”, as a result of which the land of the Vyatichi was enriched and strengthened and became a tasty morsel for Kievan Rus, which, during the reign of Prince Oleg, conquered all the tribes of the Eastern Slavs, except for the Vyatichi.
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The Vyatichi were pagans and retained the ancient faith longer than other tribes. If in Kievan Rus the main god was Perun - the god of the stormy sky, then among the Vyatichi it was Stribog ("Old God"), who created the universe, the Earth, all gods, people, flora and fauna. It was he who gave people blacksmith's tongs, taught how to smelt copper and iron, and also established the first laws. In addition, they worshiped Yarila, the sun god, who rides across the sky in a wonderful chariot drawn by four white golden-maned horses with golden wings. Every year on June 23, the holiday of Kupala, the god of earthly fruits, was celebrated, when the sun gives the greatest power to plants and medicinal herbs were collected.
The Vyatichi believed that on the night of Kupala, trees move from place to place and talk to each other with the noise of their branches, and whoever has a fern with him can understand the language of each creation. Among young people, Lel, the god of love, was especially revered, who appeared in the world every spring to unlock the bowels of the earth with his keys-flowers for the lush growth of grasses, bushes and trees, for the triumph of the all-conquering power of Love. The Vyatichi people sang the goddess Lada, the patroness of marriage and family.
In addition, the Vyatichi worshiped the forces of nature. So, they believed in the goblin - the owner of the forest, a wild-looking creature that was above anyone tall tree. The goblin tried to lead a man off the road in the forest, lead him into an impassable swamp, slums and destroy him there. At the bottom of the river, lake, in the pools lived a waterman - a naked, shaggy old man, the owner of the waters and swamps, all their riches. He was the lord of mermaids. Mermaids are the souls of drowned girls, evil creatures. Coming out moonlit night from the water where they live, by singing and charming they try to lure a person into the water and tickle him to death. The brownie, the main owner of the house, enjoyed great respect. This is a little old man who looks like the owner of the house, all overgrown with hair, an eternal busybody, often grumpy, but deep down he is kind and caring. In the minds of the Vyatichi people, an unsightly, harmful old man was Father Frost, who shook his gray beard and caused bitter frosts. They used to scare children with Santa Claus. But in the 19th century it turned into kind creature, which, together with the Snow Maiden, brings gifts for the New Year. Such were the life, customs and religion of the Vyatichi, in which they differed little from other East Slavic tribes.
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In 882, Prince Oleg created a united Old Russian state. The freedom-loving and warlike tribe of the Vyatichi long and persistently defended independence from Kyiv. They were led by princes elected by the people's assembly, who lived in the capital of the Vyatic tribe, the city of Dedoslavl (now Dedilovo). The strongholds were the fortified cities of Mtsensk, Kozelsk, Rostislavl, Lobynsk, Lopasnya, Moskalsk, Serenok and others, which numbered from 1 to 3 thousand inhabitants. Under the command of the Vyatic princes there was a large army, in the front ranks of which stood recognized strongmen and brave men, who boldly exposed their bare breasts to the arrows. Their entire clothing consisted of canvas trousers, tightly belted and tucked into boots, and their weapons were wide axes, so heavy that they fought with both hands. But how terrible were the blows of battle axes: they cut even strong armor and split helmets like clay pots. Warrior-spearmen with large shields made up the second line of fighters, and behind them were crowded archers and javelin throwers - young warriors.
In 907, the Vyatichi were mentioned by the chronicler as participants in the campaign of the Kyiv prince Oleg against Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium.
In 964, the Kiev prince Svyatoslav invaded the easternmost Slavic people. He had a well-armed and disciplined squad, but he did not want a fratricidal war. His negotiations took place with the elders of the Vyatichi people. The chronicle briefly reports this event: “Svyatoslav went to the Oka River and the Volga and met the Vyatichi and said to them: “To whom are you giving tribute?” They answered: “To the Khazars.” Svyatoslav removed the power of the Khazar Kaganate from the Vyatichi, they began to pay tribute to him.
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However, the Vyatichi soon separated from Kyiv. The Kiev prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich also fought twice with the Vyatichi. The chronicle says that in 981 he defeated them and laid tribute - from each plow, just as his father took it. But in 982, as the chronicle reports, the Vyatichi rose up in war, and Vladimir went against them and won a second time. Having baptized Rus' in 988, Vladimir sent a monk from the Kiev Pechersk Monastery to the land of the Vyatichi to introduce the forest people to Orthodoxy. Gloomy, bearded men in bast shoes and women wrapped in scarves up to their eyebrows respectfully listened to the visiting missionary, but then unanimously expressed bewilderment: why, why do they need to change the religion of their grandfathers and fathers to faith in Christ? then in a dark corner of the endless Vyatic forests at the hands of fanatical pagans.
It is noteworthy that in the epics about Ilya Muromets, his move from Murom to Kyiv along the “straight road” through the Vyatic territory is considered one of his heroic feats. Usually they preferred to go around it in a roundabout way. Vladimir Monomakh speaks with pride, as if about a special feat, about his campaigns in this land in his “Teachings”, dating back to the end of the 11th century. It should be noted that he does not mention either his conquest of the Vyatichi or the imposition of tribute. Apparently, they were ruled in those days by independent leaders or elders. In the Instruction, Monomakh crushes Khodota and his son from them.
Before last quarter XI century The chronicles do not name a single city in the land of the Vyatichi. Apparently, it was essentially unknown to the chroniclers.
In 1082-86, the proud and rebellious Vyatichi again rose against Kyiv. They are led by Khodota and his son, famous adherents of the pagan religion in their region. Modern historians, who are unbiased about the facts, call Khodota a Russian Robin Hood, who rebels against the extortions of Monomakh, robs the sons of noble boyars and distributes the loot to the poor. Vladimir Monomakh goes to pacify them (which he talks about in his teaching!): “And two winters went to the Vyatichi land: against Khodota and against his son.” His first two campaigns ended in nothing. The squad passed through the forests without meeting the enemy, who was praying to their forest gods. Only during the third campaign did Monomakh overtake and defeat the forest army of Khodota, but its leader managed to escape.
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For the second winter, the Grand Duke prepared differently. First of all, he sent his scouts to the Vyatic settlements, occupied the main ones and brought there all kinds of supplies. And when the frosts hit, Khodota was forced to go to the huts and dugouts to warm up. Monomakh overtook him in one of his winter quarters. The vigilantes knocked out everyone who came to hand in this battle.
But the Vyatichi continued to fight and rebel for a long time, until the governors intercepted and bandaged all the instigators and executed them in front of the villagers with a brutal execution. Only then did the land of the Vyatichi finally become part of the Old Russian state. In the 14th century, the Vyatichi finally disappeared from the historical scene and were no longer mentioned in the chronicles.
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